Pressed to explain why Gov. Sarah Palin had expressed a view on Pakistan that contradicted his, John McCain described any discussion of the matter as "gotcha journalism."

"Look," he said during a joint interview with Palin on CBS Evening News. "I understand this day and age gotcha-journalism. Is that a pizza place? In a conversation with someone who you didn't hear...the question very well, you don't know the context of the conversation. Grab a phrase."

He then added, "Gov. Palin and I agree that you don't announce that you're going to attack another country."

The defense was flimsy. Palin had previously voiced support for targeting terrorists in Pakistan even without that country's approval, during her first national television interview with ABC's Charlie Gibson. Moreover, her statement seemed pretty definitive. Appearing at a Philadelphia restaurant over the weekend, the Alaska Governor said of a raid into Pakistan: "If that's what we have to do to stop the terrorists from coming any further in, absolutely we should."